New Delhi: CBI on told a Special court that all the 15 accused in a coal scam case, in which ex-Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda has sought summoning of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as accused, should clarify whether they support or oppose his plea.
Special Public Prosecutor R S Cheema told the court that if Koda's plea is allowed, it will lead to a joint trial of the 15 accused present before the court and the three persons, including Manmohan Singh, who are sought to be summoned by Koda.
"If Koda's plea is allowed, it will lead to a joint trial with the accused who are here and the persons who are sought to be summoned. We have to see whether all other accused are supporting or opposing the plea," he told Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar.
The court asked the counsel representing other accused about it and they said they have not gone through Koda's application and were not aware of the grounds taken by the former chief minister.
The court, thereafter, asked Koda to supply the copy of his application to the other accused and posted the matter for further hearing on September 21.
The case pertains to alleged irregularities in allocation of Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block to two Jindal group companies, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) and Gagan Sponge Iron Pvt Ltd (GSIPL).
Koda, Congress leader and industrialist Naveen Jindal and 13 others were chargesheeted by the CBI in the case earlier. The court was hearing Koda's plea seeking to summon Singh as an additional accused along with Anand Swaroop, the then Secretary (Energy), and Jai Shankar Tiwari, the then Secretary (Mines and Geology), contending that CBI's theory of conspiracy remains incomplete without the involvement of the then Prime Minister who was also holding the portfolio of Coal Ministry.
He said Singh being the final authority to allocate coal blocks, cannot escape from the consequences of his decision. In his plea, Koda said, "the materials placed by CBI shows that the said conspiracy, if any, cannot be complete without the involvement of the Coal Minister (Singh) who had the final say in the entire allotment."
During arguments earlier, Koda's counsel had claimed that Manmohan Singh was "aware of everything" in the process of allocating the coal block to Naveen Jindal group firms.
He had said that according to CBI, then minister of state for coal Dasari Narayan Rao, who is also an accused, wanted the coal block to be allocated to Jindal group but "actually the man behind this was the Prime Minister who approved it".
He said the court was required to consider that the case of all other accused "stand on a better footing as compared to Dr Manmohan Singh" who has taken the "ultimate and final decision" to allot the coal block to the two Jindal firms.
Noting that the charge sheet said the allocation has been made wrongly and was not in public interest, the plea said "the ultimate final authority who made the allotment cannot be allowed to go scot-free without even facing the trial."
It also claimed it would be "discriminatory and illegal" to charge one set of accused for having taken decision against public interest by recommending GSIPL's name and, on the other hand, other set of officials, under whose signature the final allotment has taken place, were allowed to go scot-free.
Regarding the officials Swaroop and Tiwari, Koda said they were part of the three-member sub-group formed by Jharkhand Government to evaluate the pleas of firms and suggest suitable application for recommendation by the state.
Koda had alleged that as per evidence placed on record by CBI, Swaroop and Tiwari, had specifically suggested the withdrawal of recommendations made in favour of M/s Lanco Infratech and further recommended enhancement of shares of M/s JSPL from 30 per cent to 70 per cent.
Besides Jindal and Koda, Dasari Narayan Rao, ex-Coal Secretary H C Gupta and 11 others, including five firms, are accused in the case.
The other individual accused in the case are – Rajeev Jain, Director of Jindal Realty Pvt Ltd, Girish Kumar Suneja and Radha Krishna Saraf, Directors of GSIPL, Suresh Singhal, Director of New Delhi Exim Pvt Ltd, K Ramakrishna Prasad, Managing Director of Sowbhagya Media Ltd, and chartered accountant Gyan Swaroop Garg. Besides the ten accused, five firms -- Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, Jindal Realty Pvt Ltd, Gagan Infraenergy Ltd (formerly known as GSIPL), Sowbhagya Media Ltd and New Delhi Exim Pvt Ltd -- are also accused in the case.
While summoning them as accused, the court had said prima facie offences under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with sections 409(criminal breach of trust by public servant), 420 (cheating) of IPC read with sections 13(1)(c) and 13(1)(d) (criminal misconduct by a public servant) of the Prevention of Corruption Act were made out against them.
